As he answered that he did not,
Perikles said: "What is the difference, then, between it and an eclipse
of the sun, except that the eclipse is caused by something larger than
my cloak?" This subject is discussed by the philosophers in their
schools.
Perikles sailed with the fleet, but did nothing worthy of so great a
force. He besieged the sacred city of Epidaurus, but, although he had
great hopes of taking it, he failed on account of the plague, which
destroyed not only his own men, but every one who came in contact with
them. After this he again endeavoured to encourage the Athenians, to
whom he had become an object of dislike. However, he did not succeed in
pacifying them, but they condemned him by a public vote to be general no
more, and to pay a fine which is stated at the lowest estimate to have
been fifteen talents, and at the highest fifty. This was carried,
according to Idomeneus, by Kleon, but according to Theophrastus by
Simmias; whilst Herakleides of Pontus says that it was effected by
Lakrateides.
XXXVI. He soon regained his public position, for the people's outburst
of anger was quenched by the blow they had dealt him, just as a bee
leaves its sting in the wound; but his private affairs were in great
distress and disorder, as he had lost many of his relatives during the
plague, while others were estranged from him on political grounds.
Xanthippus too, the eldest of his legitimate sons, who was a spendthrift
by nature and married to a woman of expensive habits, a daughter of
Tisander, the son of Epilykus, could not bear with his father's stingy
ways and the small amount of money which he allowed him.
Pages:
421
422
423
424
425
426
427
428
429
430
431
432
433
434
435
436
437
438
439
440
441
442
443
444
445